Kansas gives governor and Senate control over selection of judges…

Sponsored by the Committee on Judiciary and signed into law in 2013 by Gov. Sam Brownback, HB2019 gives the governor of Kansas sole power to select judicial nominees for the Court of Appeals who then face confirmation by the Kansas Senate. The law ends the liberal Kansas Bar Association’s former control over selection of appellate court judges. The law replaces the merit selection approach commonly known as “the Missouri Plan” with selection by elected officials known as the “federal method.”